May 9, 2007

Stephan Koplowitz's Revealed in Residence at MASS MoCA

(North Adams, Mass.) From Saturday, June 2, through Wednesday, June 10 MASS MoCA's patrons are invited to experience the rare treat of a full-sized camera obscura installed in MASS MoCA's Scaturro Courtyard as part of choreographer Stephan Koplowitz's newest work, Revealed. Koplowitz, with a penchant for daring site-specific work, will present Revealed as a two-fold project. Throughout his two-week residency guests are welcome to wander through the room-sized, walk-in camera obscura, taking in an entirely new view of MASS MoCA's legendary upside-down trees. On Saturday, June 9, and Sunday, June 10, guests are also invited to view a site-specific performance event performed several times throughout the day.

The camera obscura, a device that has fascinated artists and scientists for centuries with its curious play on perspective, literally means "dark room" in Latin. With a small enough hole in one end, light coming through projects an inverted image on the facing surface. Viewers get an inverted version of what is happening outside as people move, trees bend in the wind, or clouds float overhead.

"This is a work that investigates perception and our ability to perceive space and light," explains Koplowitz. "Revealed attempts to give the viewer time to look at the world, at this specific place in time, simultaneously with two sets of 'eyes'…it is hopefully a reminder of how powerful and striking pure light and the absence of light can be."

Koplowitz serves as the dean of The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts, prior to which he was Director of Dance at the Packer Collegiate Institute for 20 years. He is known for taking his dance out of the theater and placing it in the world: streets, parks, public buildings, and on occasion, swimming pools, have served as platforms for his site-specific performances. Some of the more famous works involved large-scale performances in architecturally compelling and challenging spaces such as London's British Library and Natural History Museum, the windows of Grand Central Terminal and Union Station in New York City, and a coal processing plant in Essen, Germany.

Admission to the camera obscura is free during the residency. Admission to the dance performances on June 9 and 10 is free. Reservations are not available. Admission is on a first come basis.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org